Association between serum folate levels and schizophrenia based on sex

Abstract

Aim Sex differences in serum folate concentrations are well known, but no studies have investigated the association between serum folate levels and schizophrenia based on sex. With this study in a Japanese population, we examined the difference in serum folate levels between patients with schizophrenia and non‐psychiatric controls stratified by sex. The relations among serum folate levels, plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), and serum vitamin B6 (pyridoxal) levels were also examined using data from our previous studies. Methods The serum folate concentrations of 482 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 1350 non‐psychiatric control subjects were measured. We conducted an analysis of covariance to examine the differences in serum folate levels between the two groups based on sex. Spearman's rank correlation was used to evaluate the relations among folate, tHcy, and vitamin B6 levels. Results In the control group, serum folate concentrations were higher in women than in men. Lower levels of serum folate were observed in both male and female patients with schizophrenia. An inverse correlation between serum folate and plasma tHcy and a weak positive correlation between serum folate and vitamin B6 were observed in the combined cohort. Conclusion Our findings suggest that: (i) a low serum folate level may be associated with schizophrenia regardless of sex; and (ii) folate administration may be beneficial for the treatment of schizophrenia. In schizophrenic patients with low serum folate levels, folate administration might result in improvements in high tHcy and an increase in low vitamin B6 levels.

Alteration of lipids and amino acids in plasma distinguish schizophrenia patients from controls: A targeted metabolomics study

“…Firstly, we included a total of 126 participants in this study, and this moderate sample size may have limited statistical power. Secondly, due to the metabolic and transcriptional signatures showed sexspecific in psychiatric disorders, [42][43][44][45] the sex difference may influent the results. Thirdly, the diet habit could impact the concentrations of glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, 46 however, the effect of fasting time on metabolites might be limited.…”

Abnormalities in one-carbon metabolism in young patients with psychosis

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A Longitudinal Assessment of the Natural Change in Haemoglobin, Haematocrit, and Mean Corpuscular Volume with Age

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